[August 2, 2023] I grew up in Louisiana, just across the river from Mississippi and while both competed for the lowest position in America for education, social services, income, and a variety of measures of quality of life. Today, Mississippi is back in the news for hiring Britain’s leading advocate for Brexit, Mr. Douglas Carswell, now the Mississippi Center for Public Policy president. Has this economically conservative Carswell made an impact?
You might be surprised to learn that Mississippi, the poorest state in the US, is now wealthier than Britain.
Mississippi’s GDP per capita last year was $47,190, slightly above the UK’s approximately $45,000, though still well below the overall American average of $70,000. While the UK’s per capita GDP has stagnated for the past 15 years, Mississippi’s has been rising rapidly to the point that it has just overtaken us. – The Times UK [behind paywall]
Shocking? Perhaps but only to those not paying attention to Mississippi (where my main military headquarters was located). Carswell quickly points out that Mississippi was “the poster child for U.S deprivation,” but times have changed due to conservative state-level policies. He says:
Over the past 40 years, those southern US states that have embraced free-market reforms, such as Texas, Tennessee and Florida, have done remarkably well. Helping Mississippi adopt similar reforms would almost guarantee something similar. Frustrated by the inability of those who run Britain to change much for the better, I was attracted to America.
In the US, there is an appetite for improvement, and those you vote for — especially at the state level — have the power to deliver it. That is why Mississippi is now overtaking Britain. In recent years the state has used its freedom to make bold free-market reforms. Last year it introduced the largest tax cut in its history, slashing income tax to a flat 4 per cent from 2026. Only a dozen or so US states have a lower personal tax burden.
Also, Mississippi schools have gotten better, while many Democrat-run state schools have worsened. Mississippi’s Black and Hispanic students now outperform their peers in several states in reading and math. And the trend continues upward as measured in a variety of ways.
Will Mississippi be the new model for American states to immolate? Perhaps. Yet, Mississippi is on the front lines of the Left and Right political battles for America’s soul, and this state’s conservative policies are giving the political Left a run for its money.
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Please read my books:
Imagine that.
Never underestimate people, esp. the folks of Mississippi.
Got that right. Mississippians see where they are. And they have elected those who believe in pulling themselves up by their boot straps. I wonder what would have happened if they had continued to use those old marixist solutions of handouts to everyone and treated the poor like victims. Work hard, play hard, don’t take any crap off anybody, be responsible, never be a victim, and pray. That is how you live a good life, a great life. Also read and follow Gen. Satterfield in his book “55 Rules for a Good Life” and you will thank him.
https://www.amazon.com/55-Rules-Good-Life-Responsibility/dp/1737915529/
Good article. I am glad Mississippi stepped up it’s game to it’s people economic. The state still has work to do but it a start
Behind their payroll. RATS, please Gen. Satterfield, try to avoid this. thank you.
I’m shocked.
Mississippi’s GDP per capita last year was $47,190, slightly above the UK’s approximately $45,000, though still well below the overall American average of $70,000. While the UK’s per capita GDP has stagnated for the past 15 years, Mississippi’s has been rising rapidly to the point that it has just overtaken us. – The Times UK [behind paywall]
I was too but lookie here, Mississippi is a state to contend with. It begins to make you wonder that Democrat states are in decline by every measure of quality of life and yet other states are doing much better, gradually but better nonetheless.
Another spot-on article. Pay attention to this everyone. There is a war going on in America for its ‘soul.’ I’m happy to be aligned with those who chose freedom over tyranny and don’t be fooled, that is the choice. Too many folks are attracted to the easy life of tyranny and avoid the hard work required to be free. 👀👀👀👀👀 If you want to adopt communism, Marxism, or socialism (they overlap alot) then go to N.Korea, Russia, or China and see how you like it. Or Venezuela or Cuba. Yep, you will cry to come home to America.
You go girl, great comment and hard hitting. 👍
✌✌✌✌✌ Excellent points Library Girl. Loving it all the way. Socialism, that which so many young Americans love, is the newest religion and they are fully dedicated to it thanks to our corrupt school system and weak parenting and a US government that loves it too under this Democrat Administration.
Pow, hit that one out of the park just like Gen. Satterfield does every day.⚾ Cheers!
“Will Mississippi be the new model for American states to immolate? Perhaps. Yet, Mississippi is on the front lines of the Left and Right political battles for America’s soul, and this state’s conservative policies are giving the political Left a run for its money.” Very interesting conclusion, Gen. Satterfield.
Nothing like a little reality seeping into the Leftist ideology, and that it might actually be making places like the UK and states like NY, MN, IL, NJ, CA, and MA worse, not better. Socialism only works when you have other peoples’ money to spend. When you run out of it, socialism collapses.
Margaret Thatcher once said that “The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” This quotation is congruent with an oft-expressed opinion which casts socialism as a form of government that continuously expropriates private capital until all the industry in the country has been nationalized (or until the country’s economy has been run into the ground, whichever comes first).
Socialism looks good from the outside, but don’t ever look under the hood or you might just be shocked.
Good comment, Brit. I love it when communism and socialism are exposed for what they really are, but like the Devil, they are always enticing when people are looking at the bright and shinny side.
Mostly the stupid who fall for it. Or those like Joe Biden who gain from it illegally thru bribes and other forms of corruption.
It is hard to believe, but I will accept it, that Mississippi has a higher average income than the UK. Says a lot about Britain’s socialist policies. Go figure!
Schools have gotten much better in Mississippi, too. My own state, Minnesota, once had good public schools, but that is no longer true. – POSTED ON JULY 31, 2023 BY JOHN HINDERAKER